A CONTRACT for a new £2 million school is the first to be awarded by St Helens Council under a new ground-breaking partnership arrangement.

The council has awarded the building of a new Bleak Hill Community Primary School to the Northern Construction company, Willmott Dixon.

They were one of 32 firms who expressed an interest in the project. Three were short-listed and gave presentations to the sub-committee as part of interviews before the contract was awarded.

Willmott Dixon have considerable previous experience of the new partnering approach which is being advocated by the Government as part of the drive towards 'Best Value' in local government with an emphasis on co-operation, teamwork and shared cost savings linked to better quality.

Under the scheme, the council chooses a partner on the basis of suitability and not necessarily the lowest cost bid.

The council's assistant chief executive (competitive services), Ian Beaton, who chairs the local government Construction Forum, said: "The partnering approach is part of the Government strategy for re-thinking construction and how we move towards a less confrontational approach. The council sees this as the firstof many projects including housing refurbishment and is committed to the 'Best Value' approach."

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